Taught to read and write at home by his father, a man who became a priest himself. Moved into the Condat Monastery, Mount Jura, Switzerland at age seven, and stayed there the rest of his 61 years. Learned to read Greek and Latin, and became a noted Scripture authority. He refused to become ordained, saying he was unworthy to be a priest. Chosen abbot of his house c.496; the monastery was later renamed Saint-Oyend in his honour, and still later was known as Saint-Claude. When the wooden monastery burned, he managed to get it rebuilt in stone; it lasted for centuries. Known for the extreme austerity, simplicity, humility and good cheer, and for his life of continual prayer.